On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 7:30 PM, Paul Leopardi <paul.leopa...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > Hi William, > On Aug 16, 5:58 am, William Stein <wst...@gmail.com> wrote: >> If somebody walked up to *you* and asked: "Is Sage now a viable >> alternative to MATLAB?" what would you say? >> I'm especially interested in what people who do numerical/applied >> computation think. >> >> My answer: "It's very difficult for *me* to answer this question >> myself, because MATLAB is useless for most of my own >> teaching/research/work, but I realize it is very widely used in >> applied mathematics. Based on going to Scipy and the resources I've >> seen online, it appears that the Numpy/Scipy stack is extremely useful >> to actual people doing numerical computation. Maybe I'll try >> asking on sage-devel." > > I am currently teaching numerical linear algebra at ANU (MATH3512: > Matrix Computations), using Trefethen and Bau's Numerical Linear > Algebra as a textbook. Trefethen and Bau, as you know, uses Matlab for > its examples and exercises. My course switched from Scilab (a Matlab > almost-clone) to Python/ IPython/ SciPy/ NumPy/ Matplotlib just this > year. Each year, one issue keeps repeating: there is a spread of > student backgrounds from non-programmer to programmer, and from non- > mathematician to mathematician. The non-programmers often say that > there is not enough explicit instruction in the programming aspects of > the course. The course currently includes about one hour of lecture > and 8 hours of computer labs devoted to learning programming, using > the Python platform mentioned above. The labs are based on 6 of the > tutorial worksheets written and used for MATH3511 Scientific > Computing, which also switched to Python this year. I am encouraging > my students to use ipython -pylab and to use NumPy matrices whenever > possible. They will also be using sparse matrices. I have also > demonstrated Sage to students in one of the computer labs. > > The idea of using the Sage Notebook interface via the Web is quite > appealing, but I haven't tried switching the course to Sage because I > am afraid of the complications involved in rewriting the tutorial > materials and in running the labs. In particular, to run the labs > successfully, would I need to know all the peculiarities and pitfalls > involved in Sage coercion for linear algebra classes? Do matrices in > complex double precision and real double precision produce the same > results in Sage as the would using ipython -pylab ? Is it worthwhile > to study the algorithm implementations used by Sage, as opposed to > those in NumPy and SciPy alone?
You could set the default "system" for the notebook to be Python instead of Sage. Then you can use the course materials you've already developed with almost no changes at all, since all of "Python/ IPython/ SciPy/ NumPy/ Matplotlib" are included in Sage. The main thing you have to do is explain how to draw matplotlib plots in the notebook (using savefig). > Another issue is that students want to be able to run their numerical > software as standalone on their laptops. My course would need to help > them install Sage on Windows, Mac and possibly Linux. Right now, the > students are using Python directly on the Windows machines in the > labs, and using ssh on the Macs in the labs to connect to a Linux- > based cluster running Python, It sounds like all of that lab installation has nothing to do with the students. > as well as running on their own laptops. That's the one part that would involve students actually doing something. Normal people do successfully install Sage... That said, running Sage on Windows is definitely not the best experience, since Windows has fostered a less than optimal ecosystem for open source software. (Sage is fine on Linux and Mac.) > I have encouraged them to try the Enthought Academic Download, to ease > any installation difficulties. Has that worked well? EPD of course has excellent Windows support. > These are questions which I did not give myself enough time to study > in the first semester before I had to start teaching in second > semester. Perhaps if I start now, I can obtain a clearer idea of how > to teach numerical linear algebra using Sage from next year onward. > Would participating in a Sage Days help? Yes, though the extent to which it helps would depend on the Sage Days. > > -- > To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to > sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel > URL: http://www.sagemath.org > -- William Stein Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org -- To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org
